Diana, Princess of Wales

Ken Goff /WireImage

By the 10th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, public fascination with her life — and death — seems hardly diminished.

The text of an exhibition at Kensington Palace, her home after her divorce from Prince Charles that opened in time for the anniversary of the 1997 car crash that took her life, summed up one strand of Diana-fascination: "Beginning with the shy teenage girl who captured hearts around the world and then as a blushing bride, the exhibition follows her growth into a sophisticated princess and dedicated mother, who became internationally respected and admired as much for her beauty as for her tireless work for charities."

Those who might be called Diana skeptics focused on what they saw as a talent for manipulation — the writer Germaine Greer called her a "devious moron," while still others continued to plumb every scrap of evidence suggesting that a conspiracy lay behind the crash.

If Diana's marriage to Prince Charles was a high point for the modern monarchy, and the outpouring of anger following her death a low point, the new flood of "Dianabilia" and hoopla surrounding the scheduled celebrations of her memory seemed mostly a tribute to the way her short life story seemed to provide something for everyone.

In April 2008, after six months of hearings and testimony by 278 witnesses, a jury at a British inquest found that Diana and her lover, Dodi al-Fayed, were unlawfully killed by the negligent driving of their chauffeur and of the photographers who pursued them.

The verdict of unlawful killing, by a vote of 9 to 2, represented the toughest judgment available to the jury, which needed only a majority to render a decision.

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December 7, 2012, Friday

A British documentary that raises questions about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, is unlikely to ever be released after its producers were unable to obtain insurance that would protect its distributors from libel charges, The Evening Standard...

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Long before the concept existed, the Duchess of Devonshire, Georgiana Spencer, was the original "It Girl." Like her direct descendent Princess Diana, she was ravishing, glamorous and adored by an entire country. Determined to be a player in the wider affairs of the world, she proved that she could out-gamble, out-drink and outwit most of the aristocratic men who surrounded her. She helped usher in sweeping changes to England as a leader of the forward-thinking Whig Party. But even as her power and popularity grew, she was haunted by the fact that the only man in England she seemingly could not seduce was her very own husband, the Duke. And when she tried to find her own way to be true to her heart and loyal to her duty, the resulting controversies and convoluted liaisons would leave all of London talking.

Celebrated and adored by millions, she was the Queen of people’s hearts, yet the bittersweet story of the last man to truly capture hers has never before been told. Princess Diana (NAOMI WATTS), at one time the most famous woman in the world, inspir